1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a method for installing panels in a ceiling, and, more particularly, to a method for installing ceiling panels in a tunnel.
2. Description of the Prior Art
It has been customary to utilize a suspended ceiling in tunnels, particularly those used for automobile or other vehicular traffic. Generally, in constructing such a ceiling, the ceiling panels have normally been lifted one at a time and bolted to brackets extending downwardly from the roof. Such a method of construction is very inefficient and time consuming since only one panel is being worked upon at any given time. It takes a large amount of time to complete a tunnel ceiling according to this method thereby necessitating a large number of workers if a construction schedule is to be followed. U.S. Pat. No. 777,013 to A. Fernandez discloses a tunnel having a suspended ceiling.
Various methods for erecting ceilings are known from the prior art. For example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,375,795 to Merkle, and 1,824,222 to McLimans, disclose methods for constructing ceilings for furnaces. However, these methods are specifically for use with bricks and are not adaptable to the planar ceiling panels used to form the ceilings in a tunnel. Furthermore, these patents, while associating a plurality of bricks unto a single ceiling panel or section, disclose lifting these sections one at a time to the roof to form the ceiling.